Jousting with Jacobs

Perhaps no vision for “great” American cities commands the same devotion as that of Jane Jacobs. Mixed uses, a range of building types, diversity of residents, and a vibrant street life—all are paid lip service by New York City planners and developers. But, argued a panel of urban scholars hosted by Village Preservation, the persistence of Jacobs’s vision is “surprising” given that it was developed under a “much different set of circumstances.” New York has changed more than a little bit since the 1960s, as has the way city making is theorized. Jacobs’s “architectural determinism”—associating a diverse streetscape with social diversity—amounts to a false equivalence, said Susan Fainstein. The vibrancy Jacobs advocated for a half-century ago has led to a dramatic “upscaling” of lower Manhattan, observed Sharon Zukin. “She wanted all land-use decisions to include community groups,” said M. Christine Boyer—a salutary recommendation whose contemporary analogue substitutes Post-It notes for power. Of course, Jacobs couldn’t have imagined the ends to which her ideas would …